Kwara confirmed second case of Lassa fever

Kwara state government yesterday confirmed another case of Lassa fever in the Ifelodun Local Government Area (LGA), of the state. The new confirmed case is that of the father of a 10-year-old boy said to be the index case.

Speaking with reporters in Ilorin yesterday after the state executive council meeting, the commissioner for Information, Alhaji Mahmud Ajeigbe, said: “the father of the 10-year-old boy that earlier tested positive for the disease was the second person to be infected.”

The commissioner, who allayed fears of the outbreak among people in the state, said that the state government was on top of the situation.

He said that the development called for better hygiene among people, adding that the government was committed to ensuring healthy living among its citizens.

The commissioner, who said that nomadic nature and ignorance of the affected people had compounded challenges posed by the disease, added that treatment and isolation centres had been set up at Omu Aran, Ajase and Babanla health facilities with necessary infrastructures.

But surprisingly the index case before his forceful isolation at General Hospital Omuaran was alleged to be playing road side football with some of his peers fuelling a speculation about the authenticity or otherwise of the disease as claimed.

Besides, speaking, the Senior Special Adviser to the governor on media and communication, Dr Muideen Akorede, said that 400 cases of certificate forgery had been discovered in the ongoing certificate verification exercise among civil servants in the state.

The governor’s aide, who said that the culprits of the forgery case would be dealt with according to civil service rule, advised others yet to be identified to exit the state civil service before they could be detected.